Another Christian pastor, Youcef Nadarkhani, has been in prison since 2009. Tried and convicted for apostasy because he converted from Islam to Christianity as a teenager, Nadarkhani sits in jail with a death sentence hanging over his head.

This is not the first time Iranian Christians have faced persecution. (All religious minorities in Iran—Christian, Baha’i, and Jewish—are subject to a variety of legal impediments and social obstacles.) In 1993, for example, Mehdi Dibaj was arrested, tried, and convicted of apostasy, and sentenced to death. His pastor, Haik Hovsepian Mehr, initiated and led a global protest of Dibaj’s sentence. On January 16, 1994, Dibaj was released. Three days later, Haik was abducted and murdered, most likely by the regime. On June 24, Dibaj was abducted. His body was found on July 5. He had been killed, most likely by the regime.

You know, brothers and sisters, that our visit to you was not without results. We had previously suffered and been treated outrageously in Philippi, as you know, but with the help of our God we dared to tell you his gospel in the face of strong opposition.

The missionaries arrived in Thessalonica after ministering in Philippi (Acts 16:11–17:9). In Philippi, a mob attacked Paul and Silas, and the Roman magistrates had them stripped, beaten, and imprisoned. While in prison, they suffered an earthquake. When the Roman magistrates discovered that Paul and Silas were Roman citizens, who shouldn’t have been beaten, they apologized but nonetheless asked them to leave the city. In Thessalonica, a mob went searching for the missionaries. Not finding them, it abducted Jason and some other believers, dragged them before the courts, and accused them of sedition. The Thessalonian believers hustled the missionaries out of town under cover of darkness. However, despite the absence of the missionaries, the Thessalonian believers continued to suffer (1 Thes. 2:14, 3:3).

Whether in the first century or the twenty-first, persecution is the fate of many Christians around the world. Those of us who live in America or other countries that practice religious freedom should thank God every day that he has given us this grace. We should also pray for and advocate the freedom of our suffering brothers and sisters in Iran and elsewhere, as my father has done with regard to the persecuted Iranian Christians. But mostly, we should drink deeply from the well of their courage.

If, with the help of God, they dare to preach his gospel in the face of strong opposition, what is our excuse for not doing the same in our much pleasanter circumstances?

8 thoughts on “With the Help of God they Dare… (1 Thessalonians 2:1-2)”

Are you helping the White House in drumming up war talks against Iran? I can think of nothing more irresponsible for the Body of Christ to be doing in the present moment. The Church doesn’t play the “redline” game of rhetorical bullying that our Secretary of Defense recklessly chooses to indulge in. I understand this is a story about persecution and Thessalonica, but your “freedom” for fellow brothers and sisters talk has a distasteful nation-building tone to it in light of modern geo-political circumstances.

Dad is the chairman of the World Assemblies of God Fellowship. Four Assemblies of God adherents, including one pastor, are currently in detention in Iran. At one point, an entire Assemblies of God church was under arrest. And you think AG people should do…nothing? Evidently, you’re laboring under the incredibly asinine assumption that our only options are (1) nothing and (2) rhetorical bullying as a lead-up to war against Iran. How about a third option? Politely requesting the leaders of Iran to observe religious freedom and release our coreligionists without threatening any military consequences whatsoever. That’s what my dad did.